The ideas and practices that make up the New Age are very difficult to pin down or to list, for the New Age has no defined identity but rather many façades—variable and confusing façades. It gives the impression of not constituting a united, organized, structured movement. It presents itself as a series of ideas, beliefs, and practices that are apparently isolated and disconnected, with no defined aim or organization … simply as a fashion. Moreover, it has a truly astonishing capacity for mutation and a great variability: it has kept cropping up at every turn with new things, new ideas—or old ideas turned into new ones.
The New Age is a pseudo-spiritual movement of an esoteric and occult, pagan bent, which includes erroneous theories and heresies that contradict fundamental truths of the Christian faith, and which seeks to lead man to believe that he can become like God.
Its purpose, concealed beneath a pretended respect for all beliefs, is the destruction of the Christian faith, whereby it seeks to do away with the Catholic Church and with every Christian denomination.
“New Age” has been rendered in Spanish as “Nueva Era,” but the translation of “New Age” would really be “Nueva Edad.” The followers of this current also call it the “Age of Aquarius” and the “Golden Age.” Because of the ends it pursues, others call it the “Aquarian Configuration” or the “Aquarian Conspiracy.”
Origin
The New Age has its roots in the “Theosophical Society,” founded in 1875 in New York by a Russian woman, Helena Blavatsky, essentially a spiritist, who claims to have received her teachings from certain “special spiritual beings” or “ascended masters.”
In order to know what the “Theosophical Society” is, we need to understand what Theosophy is.
Theosophy is the belief or claim to have direct mystical knowledge of the “divinity”—of it and of the world—by means of secret, esoteric, occult doctrines and practices.
In 1875 Blavatsky founded the “Theosophical Society,” which is a mixture of occultism and Eastern mysticism (basically what the New Age is today). She was succeeded as president by Annie Besant, who in 1929 tried to present a new “messiah” to the world: a Hindu who rejected the status she assigned him and broke away from the movement.
But it is Alice Bailey (1880–1949), the third president—an Englishwoman also settled in the U.S.A.—who is considered the “high priestess” of the “Theosophical Society.” She founded the “Lucifer Trust” (today the “Lucis Trust”) and, as a spiritist medium, claimed to receive messages from a certain dead “master of wisdom,” a Tibetan. (It is no mere coincidence that he is an Easterner, as we shall see further on.)
In numerous writings of this “Theosophical Society” there appear the messages of the demonic spirit that dictated to her in “automatic writing”—that is, in a state of mediumistic trance, during which the medium’s hand writes automatically, without the medium having any control over what is written.
These writings form a kind of “Plan” to which a secret character was given among the followers. This “plan,” which is the “Plan of the New Age,” includes a world government and a single world religion. The Plan of the New Age was to remain hidden until 1975, the year in which it would be brought out into public light.
Where does the “Theosophical Society” that Blavatsky founded in 1875 come from?
“Theosophy began with the Masons and in their midst,” says a publication of CELAM (the Latin American Episcopal Conference) entitled “Sects in Latin America,” in the chapter entitled “Pseudo-spiritual Movements,” written by the Franciscan Friar Buenaventura Kloppenburg.
What ends does Freemasonry pursue? What does the Masonic conspiracy consist of?
Freemasonry, which is a secret society of an esoteric and occult bent condemned by the Church—although it pretends the opposite—pursues the destruction of Christian civilization, beginning first with the Catholic Church and continuing with other Christian confessions, as well as with every norm, principle, or institution based on Christianity, in order to replace them with a pagan civilization and a pseudo-religion that is likewise pagan. It is important to know this in order to continue analyzing the historical process by which the New Age took shape, starting from the “Theosophical Society.”
Helena Blavatsky became a spiritist medium a little before founding the “Theosophical Society.” It was during a stay in Paris (1867–1870) that she joined the group of Allan Kardec, a Mason and the codifier of Spiritism.
On her return to the U.S. she founded the “Theosophical Society” in New York on November 20, 1875, together with other Masons: Charles Sotheran (one of the leaders of Freemasonry in the U.S.A.), Henry Steele Olcott (a Mason), George Felt (of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, also Masonic), and William Judge.
In 1871, Albert Pike, grand master of one of the branches of Freemasonry, the Scottish Rite, wrote a fundamental book of Masonic philosophy: “Morals and Dogma of Freemasonry.” Pike, although he did not formally belong to the governing body of the “Theosophical Society,” was in contact with it.
Another piece of evidence of the connection between Freemasonry and the New Age is this most curious fact: the bulletin that the Masons distribute throughout the world to the “Masonic brothers” is called—“New Age”! There is record that it has been so called at least since 1921, but this name could have been used before that date.
Apart from the historical evidence of the origin and the relationship of the New Age with Freemasonry, there is another decisive one: the Plan of the New Age coincides with the ends of Freemasonry: a world religion and a world government. That is to say: the goals of the New Age and those of Freemasonry are the same.
Perhaps for this reason Pope Leo XIII, in 1884, in his Encyclical “Humanum Genus” (#7), says the following: “There are several organized bodies which, though differing in name, in ceremonial, in form and origin, are nevertheless so bound together by community of purpose and by the similarity of their main opinions as to make in fact one thing with the sect of the Freemasons, which is a kind of center whence they all go forth, and whither they all return.”
What is the relationship of the “Theosophical Society” with Eastern Mysticism?
The diabolical spirit that dictates the New Age Plan to Alice Bailey is Tibetan. But the relationship of the “Theosophical Society” with the East is earlier: in 1879 Blavatsky and Olcott traveled to India, settled in Adyar, near Madras, and six years later she wrote her work “The Secret Doctrine,” in which the “Plan of the New Age” begins to take shape.
Conclusion
After this succinct historical analysis we can conclude the following: Freemasonry gives rise to the Theosophical Society by means of Spiritism and in contact with Eastern Paganism.
These are the four basic pillars of the New Age:
Freemasonry – Spiritism – Theosophy or Gnosticism – Eastern Paganism.
By keeping in mind this supporting foundation of the New Age, we will be able to decipher and analyze it better.
The New Age therefore originates in Freemasonry, by means of instructions and dictations given by demonic spirits.
The process of penetration of the New Age
As early as 1986 a report in the New York Times said that everything has been influenced by the New Age: education, health, art, the economy, management, government, science, entertainment, and … religion.
In the religious sphere there are very committed people, very Christian, practicing Catholics… even priests and religious! who have innocently gone about “annexing” (that is how participation begins: by adding) to their lifelong beliefs and practices certain theories and practices of the New Age… and we already know where these “new” beliefs and practices come from. (!!!). For example, one that is very widespread and has been annexed by many Christians is the belief in reincarnation, which we shall analyze further on.
The promoters of the New Age do not go directly against Christian beliefs; “apparently” they accept them. They appear very open at first. They propose these heretical errors as something compatible with Christianity. All religions are accepted. Of course! For Theosophy is based on the equality of religions—so as thereby to do away with them all, in particular the Catholic one—in order then to try to establish the single religion.
Those who are promoting the New Age use terminology from the Bible, from Christianity, and even mention activities of the Catholic Church, in order to confuse, deceive, and attract Catholics.
What has the process of penetration of the New Age been like?
As humanity passed from a theocentric conception of the world, in which God was the center, to an anthropocentric conception, in which man becomes the center, changes were gradually introduced in the concepts of the faith, in moral norms, in attitudes and values, in people’s ways of life and customs. Although these changes have been occurring gradually since the Renaissance, there is no doubt that it is in this century that the conditions are being created which make possible the open and more widespread penetration of the errors of the New Age.
To see what the change has been like in society and in the individuals who make it up since the end of the last century, one may look at the Encyclical “Humanum Genus” of Pope Leo XIII and an extract from another of his Encyclicals, “Praeclara Gratulationis.” In addition, there has been a change of mentality that has taken place intensely and rapidly during the second half of this century, and which Massimo Introvigne, Director of the Center for Studies on New Religions in Rome, summarizes as follows:
1st Stage: Church NO – Christ YES: A stage of penetration by the sects of Christian origin and, in our countries, a stage of discrediting the Church and the priests: “I believe in Christ, but not in the priests” was a remark that began to spread and to be heard back then, almost becoming a “slogan.”
2nd Stage: Christ NO – God YES: A stage of invasion of Eastern religiosity and of the Eastern Gurus toward the Christian West.
3rd Stage: God NO – Religion YES: A stage in which secular matters become quasi-religious. In politics, Marxism; in science, Freudism and the beginning of the movements of the “development of the unlimited potential of the human being.”
4th Stage: Religion NO – Sacredness YES: A stage of promotion of occult beliefs and practices that are promoted as sacred: it is already the Stage of the New Age.
This has been a process of penetration that is unnoticed and underhanded, slow and gradual, but effective and unerring. They have been phases of estrangement from the truth that have followed one after another throughout the world.
Literary penetration
In 1976 the bestseller “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach came out, a publication dictated by a spirit. This was the launch of literature “channeled” by spirits. This apparently harmless and idealistic tale carried the seed of the New Age. In a short time 25 million copies were sold.
Later came “The Teachings of Don Juan” by Carlos Castaneda, the greatest exponent of sorcery.
Nowadays New Age literature is excessive; by 1991, in the U.S. alone, there were 2,500 specialized bookstores, not counting the New Age sections in all bookstores, with 25,000 titles in circulation and growing dizzyingly, this sector becoming a source of “great profits,” as reported by the newspaper “Jornal do Brasil” in January 1995.
Audiovisual penetration
The following influences are evident in films, videos, video games, music, and also in books and magazines: a taste for terror, for the imaginary and fanciful, for the cosmic-magical, the ugly and monstrous, extrasensory experiences, parapsychological powers such as telepathy, communication with spirits through games like the Ouija; journeys to the beyond, talismans, witchcraft, sorcery, etc. … and even the expressly satanic. Satanic films abound and are frequently broadcast on television.
Penetration through symbols
Satanic symbolism can be seen abundantly in newspapers, magazines, the arts, advertising, TV, cinema, clothing, etc.
Penetration into music
The so-called “New Age Music,” with its repetition of sounds in alternating sequences, is made to create atmospheres that lead the listener into a state of relaxation that favors the alteration of states of consciousness.
In rock music, lyrics with praises—formerly hidden and now explicit—to Satan himself are increasingly frequent.
Drugs
In the New Age, drugs are used, above all, as a means to attain—through the alteration of states of consciousness and the manipulation of the nervous system—supposed divinizing experiences.
Progressive discrediting of morality and the law of God
This is a form of penetration evident in all sectors of society, through the media, both in fiction programs (soap operas, films) and in non-fiction ones (opinion programs, scientific programs, etc.).
For this reason His Holiness John Paul II, in his Encyclical “Veritatis Splendor” (#35), writes: “We are invaded by an ethical orientation that has at its center an alleged conflict between freedom and the Law of God … reaching such a degree of moral autonomy that it is almost an absolute sovereignty.”
The ideology of the New Age and the façades with which it presents itself
Apparent acceptance of all religions: it goes against none, but neither does it accept any except the pagan ones: Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen, Taoism. It gradually introduces pagan beliefs (for example, reincarnation). In this way, as Christians and especially Catholics go about “annexing” these false doctrines and beliefs to our faith, we end up losing the true Faith. Thus, once the Christian Faith is weakened and destroyed, one of the ends of the New Age is achieved: to integrate all religions into a single one.
The search for health: A typical case is that of healings by “universal energy”; also “Transcendental Meditation,” to achieve emotional and psychic balance.
The pursuit of environmentalism, of environmental protection: a good end—as is that of health—but one that is sometimes used as a façade or disguise to introduce New Age theories and practices.
The use of Christian language and terms to deceive and confuse Christians and Catholics. They may declare themselves Rosicrucians, promoters of metaphysics, and simultaneously use passages from the Bible, Christian terminology, and even mention activities of the Catholic Church.
Giving a scientific appearance to the occult: for example, Parapsychology as a science to study hidden phenomena. Another example: Hindu spiritualism turned into apparent science as a relaxation technique in “Transcendental Meditation.”
The use of disguises for the demons, evil spirits, and condemned souls that act in Spiritism or “channeling”: they are called “angels” or people are made to believe that they are “extraterrestrials.” (There are testimonies of people who have escaped from the New Age and who had been told that some “extraterrestrials” would come to take possession of them.) These evil spirits are also called “ascended masters,” “special spiritual beings,” as Blavatsky called the one who gave her the dictation by “automatic writing.” They are also termed “nature spirits.” There is even one that they call the “spirit of Christmas,” much promoted, publicized, and invoked, from whom the desired gifts for that season are requested.
Pillars that support the New Age
The best way to decipher the New Age is by studying the ideology that sustains it. Thus we see that, faced with the difficulty of breaking it down, of defining it—since it brings together, by addition or confusion, old and new heresies and philosophies—by reviewing these heresies present throughout the history of the Church, we can realize how the New Age is made up. It is interesting to observe that they are all interconnected with one another and support one another.
Spiritism: We have already seen how the New Age comes principally from spiritism, that is, from communication with evil spirits and from the instructions received from them. It is not constituted by mere discoveries made by men.
The New Age comes from Spiritism but also includes and fosters it.
Spiritism, now called “channeling” and even “spiritualism,” is the practice of contacting evil spirits, that is, fallen angels and/or condemned souls.
It is believed—mistakenly—that Spiritism is the practice of contacting good and harmless spirits. But … where do these spirits come from?
Spiritist activities are expressly forbidden in the Bible (Deuteronomy 18:9-12). The Catholic Church also forbids them. That is why we can affirm that the information received through spiritist practices—whether truthful or not—does not come from the Spirit of God, nor from His Angels, nor from the souls of the Church Triumphant (those of the saints who are in Heaven), nor even from the souls of the Church Suffering (souls that are in a state of purification in Purgatory which, although they do not yet enjoy the Beatific Vision—the Vision of God—are souls already saved that form part of the Communion of Saints).
It can be concluded, then, that Spiritism is the practice of contacting evil spirits: fallen angels (demons) and condemned souls.
They use psychological principles and spiritual language in order to deceive better: “If you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will be like God”—that was the deception of the Serpent to Adam and Eve. And today Satan keeps deceiving us with the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”: you will know like god – you will be like god – you will have knowledge like god … you will heal like god – you will work miracles like god …
Pantheism: Everything is God. Man is part of God. God and the world are—in the final analysis—identical. God is the energy of the universe. God is not a being with personality, is not a personal God, is not a God who is a Person. Among other consequences of this belief we have:
If everything is god, I too am god—or I can come to be god.
Shirley MacLaine, a most important exponent of the New Age, appears in a film by the sea singing: “I am god, I am god, I am god.”
The gurus maintain that they are gods.
God includes everything, both Good and Evil. (This is a fundamental Eastern pagan doctrine.)
Monism: Everything is one, everything is one and the same thing. It is related to Pantheism in that there exists no final distinction between God and man, between the Creator and creation.
Syncretism: Fusion of different forms of belief and practice. The equalization of all religions. It claims that all religions can be a single one. As consequences of syncretism we have, for example:
The Bible is just one more among many “sacred” books.
Jesus is just one more “prophet,” placed on the same level as Buddha, Muhammad, or Lao Tzu.
Gnosticism or Theosophy: A heresy of the first century, which has persisted and reappears strongly in our days as part of what the New Age is today.
It is a set of secret teachings and practices, by means of which the person claims to attain the knowledge (“gnosis”) of the very essence of the divinity—knowledge that is sought through “magical” and occult practices.
Rosicrucianism: The principles on which the very ancient Rosicrucian Societies are based (17th century), presenting evident similarities to or interrelation with Freemasonry. Also pantheistic: “We believe in a supreme being of whom we are all part,” the declaration of principles of the Rosicrucians begins.
Moral relativism: The denial of the premises on which the moral law rests, going to the extreme of affirming that God includes both good and evil. There is no difference between good and evil, between vice and virtue. Everything depends on the opinion of each person. Good is whatever pleases each one.
If the person accepts his own goodness, everything he does is good, even if it is evil. Here are some practical examples from well-known gurus and other exponents of the New Age—consequences of moral relativism:
“Good and evil are one and the same” (Swami Vivekananda).
“My ashram (community of a guru’s followers) makes no distinction between the demonic and the divine… To emphasize morality is degrading, is inhuman, is harmful” (Rajneesh).
Shirley MacLaine says in one of her books (“Out on a Limb”) that she “found the way, the method eventually to eliminate the artificial concepts of good and evil.”
Practical relativism and subjectivism: Relativism, which is the denial of reality (everything is appearance or an impression of reality), is broadened in the New Age by joining Subjectivism. Thus it is proposed: do you create your own reality? There is no single truth; each person has his own. Hence the great surge of the fanciful and the imaginary.
Example: In the same book “Out on a Limb,” Shirley MacLaine, a most important exponent of the New Age and one of its most prominent priestesses, writes that while taking a hot bath she came to believe: “Little by little I became the water… I felt an inner connection of my breathing with the pulse of the energy around me. In fact, I was the air, the water, the darkness, the walls, the foam, the wet rocks submerged in the water, and even the sound of the river running outside.” (!!!)
MacLaine, who tried with her chant (“I am god, I am god, I am god”) to apply Pantheism (everything is god … I am god), here tries to apply Monism (everything is one, everything is the same thing) by way of subjectivism.
Moreover, this kind of extremely unhealthy practice can lead to serious depressive situations. Such is the tactic of the Devil: to lift a person up, to give him a series of powers or make him believe that he has them, only to sink him afterward irremediably into the abyss.
Esotericism and Occultism: A set of hidden or secret practices by means of which one claims to attain the divinization of oneself.
Neo-Paganism: The revaluation and incorporation of numerous pagan doctrines, in which God is chiefly regarded as a Superior Force immanent (inherent) in creation, forming part of it and not independent of it: not as the Creator, the Supreme Being.
This Divine Force includes its masculine and feminine aspect, the feminine part being the more powerful and important (Gaia or Mother Earth).
Idolatry: As a consequence of the revitalization of Paganism, old deities have reappeared and new divinities have arisen, to whom is rendered the worship due only to the One and Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Idolatry has been introduced into Venezuela and also into other countries in various ways; among others, by way of healings by contact through the so-called “universal energy.” At Level 4 of these courses, “the secret codes found in certain drawings brought by him from Egypt are studied together with the ‘master’ … one represents Nut, the figure of a lithe woman … who is said to have come with an important mission to relieve the suffering of humanity and help establish harmony upon the earth” (cf. Pandora Magazine – Report on the Vietnamese Guru Dang, Desira Narada III, and his courses).
Quietism: The search for an extreme spiritual passivity that tends toward the destruction of the human being through a supposed absorption into the divinity. It is the root of Buddhism, whose ideal is the state of “nirvana,” in which man no longer has desire, nor passion, nor the “illusion” of the external world. Quietism connects with Relativism in considering the external world an illusion or appearance.
Reincarnationism: The desire for eternal happiness—which is a longing that God Himself has placed in His creatures so that, by seeking Him, we may come to Him—is explained in Eastern Paganism by the belief that the soul of each human being returns to earth and begins to live again in another body. And it is believed, moreover, that this process called “reincarnation” happens not once, but a great many times: as many times as are necessary until this reincarnation cycle is broken—a cycle caused by “karma,” that is, by the effect that a person’s evil acts have and for which one must inexorably pay, whether in the life of that same person or in the lives of the successive persons in whom that soul supposedly reincarnates.
According to Eastern Paganism, this reincarnation cycle called “samsara” can end when, while still remaining in the physical world, one attains total detachment from it, it being believed that self-divinization is thus achieved.
But this belief in a prolonged and unpleasant supposed cycle of successive deaths and births—which in Eastern Paganism is regarded as something negative from which one must escape—we, the men and women of today, are naively adopting as something possible, good, convenient … and even pleasant and hopeful, and we are “annexing” it to the truths that constitute our Christian faith.
Nevertheless, apart from the so-called “reincarnation” being something disadvantageous and negative, and apart from its being expressly denied in the Bible (“Forasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die,” Heb 9:27), it contradicts basic truths of our Christian faith, and it could be said that it ends by denying that whole faith. Let us analyze only two of these truths:
Jesus Christ, Savior and Redeemer: Only God can save (Is 43:3 and 12:2). Only the Son of God made Man saves and redeems us (Lk 19:12 – Jn 10:19 – Rom 5:12-19). But in the pagan theory of “reincarnation,” man claims to attain his own divinization by himself, “purifying himself” through esoteric techniques and practices. That is, the man who believes he is going to reincarnate claims to redeem himself, thereby denying the only possible salvation: the one that Jesus Christ came to bring us, the Savior and Redeemer of all human beings and of each human being in particular (Lk 1:31 – Mt 1:21).
The Resurrection: Just as Jesus Christ has already risen, we too shall rise in order to live eternally (Jn 6:40), though not without first passing through the Judgment (Jn 5:25-27): “they that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, but they that have done evil shall rise unto condemnation” (Jn 5:28-29).
That is our hope: to know that we shall rise in glorious body and soul, as Jesus Christ has already risen, in order to enjoy the Heaven that has been promised to us—that place inexplicable in human terms, for “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor 2:9).
Apart from this hope of our future immortality in glorious body and soul, raised by Jesus Christ, being a truth of our Christian faith, is it not also a hope far more desirable than the vain illusion of dying in order to be “born” again within a body that is not my own?
Eastern pagan religiosity
a. Hinduism: Polytheistic, pantheistic, monistic, quietistic, relativistic. The only reality in the universe is the divinity (Brahman); everything else is illusion (maya) and really does not exist. One reaches illumination, self-divinization, through Yoga (upon reaching the “samadhi” experience).
According to the Hindu philosopher Vishal Mangalwadi, Yoga has as its purpose the alteration of consciousness in order to obtain higher levels of consciousness through certain techniques for manipulating the nervous system.
All types of yoga exercises are designed to reach, through an inner emptiness, the consciousness of one’s own divinization. (Everything is god … I am god.)
Whether it be Jnana Yoga (of knowledge), Bhakti Yoga (of love and devotion), Karma Yoga (of work and effort), Hatha Yoga (of exercises), Japa Yoga (of the repetition of words—mantras—that call upon Hindu divinities or even upon evil spirits (cf. Johnette Benkovic in “The New Age Counterfeit”)), whether it be Kundalini or Laya Yoga (the one used in the courses of healing by “universal energy” and in those of communication with “angels”), whether it be Tantra Yoga (of sexual magic), etc. …, all the types of yoga seek to lead those who practice them to a pagan concept and practice, which is the pursuit of the inner emptiness in order to reach the consciousness of one’s own divinity, that is, self-divinization: to make oneself a god.
A common error is to attempt to equate these practices with Christian Mysticism, since the inner emptiness sought in Eastern Paganism is very different from the self-surrender that, in the contemplative prayer of Christian Mysticism, the person makes when he opens himself to God and gives himself to Him who dwells within him, since man is a “living temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 3:16).
b. Buddhism: It is a new form of Eastern pagan religiosity coming from Hinduism, since, according to legend, Buddha, before reaching illumination, was a wandering Hindu monk.
Characteristic of Buddhism is the reincarnationist theory that existence is a continuous cycle of death and reincarnation, and that as long as the person remains in that cycle, he cannot free himself from suffering (karma), for which one must seek the state of total happiness and peace (nirvana).
c. Taoism/Zen: Zen is a form of Buddhism, whose goal is to reach a state of consciousness in which “everything is one” (Monism). A Zen practitioner says: “Everything is one, one is nothing, everything is nothing…”
Zen has been influenced by Taoism (a religion of China), from which it takes the Chinese principle and symbol of “yin and yang,” or the reconciliation of opposites: good–evil, passive–active, positive–negative, light–darkness, masculine–feminine, etc., since opposites are symbols of the final unity (tao).
Materialism and Hedonism: Although the goals and methods of the New Age appear to be very spiritualistic, the underlying motive is eminently materialistic (not of God) and hedonistic (the pursuit of pleasure), for it is held that the supreme goal of man is personal satisfaction and success.
Integrationism or Holism: “Holos,” from the Greek, “whole.” Everything is interconnected. All things are interdependent and must be considered “integrally” or “holistically.” This is currently applied to health.
Through this theory the reconciliation of opposites is sought, as in Taoism: science and the occult, the positive and the negative.
Also sought by this means is the integration of all religions and, of course, the integration of all these false, pagan, heretical doctrines that we have reviewed, for the NEW AGE.
Source: Conoze.com
